No. 41: Kohryu Ramen at Kohryu Ramen

Japanese parents don't name their children after themselves. There are no men named Junior walking around Japan. Yet Japanese businesses have no problem calling their house specialty after the name of the shop. So it is with the Kohryu Ramen at Costa Mesa's Kohryu Ramen.

With two new heavyweight ramen shops opening up in Costa Mesa in the past year, the city's cemented the title this writer gave them almost eight years ago: "Ramentown U.S.A." The thing about the other worthwhile shops in town (Jinya, Yamadaya, Daikokuya, and Santouka) is they stake their name on the milky-white, fat and marrow rich, tonkotsu soup made from violently-boiled pork bones. While I'm a huge fan of this style of soup, sometimes, a lighter, more subtle change of pace is in order, and that's where Kohryu shines.

Here, the soup broth is based on pork bones, probably chicken, vegetables, dried fish, and some other ingredients I can't guess at. The technique used to draw out their flavor is a gentle simmer, resulting in a light broth of consommé clarity. Because the proteins and marrow from the bones aren't as heavily extracted, the mouthfeel of the soup is much thinner and far less fatty than the other shops in town.

To this broth, you can add the flavoring of your choice: salt, shoyu, or miso, three of the most popular seasonings in the Japanese pantry. In ordering the Kohryu Ramen, you're getting a soy sauce flavored, clear soup in the regional style attributed to Tokyo. It takes a hit of green onion two ways: fresh minced and toasty-fried. The heavy handful of darkly fried scallion colors the soup a rich brown, evoking the black dragon the dish and shop are named after. Simmered bamboo shoots and soft--boiled egg with a semi-liquid yolk, called hanjuku are the other bonuses that make this the house specialty.

Kohryu could have copied the success of the newcomers and given in to the heavy tonkotsu soup craze, but they stick to their subtle, lighter style of soup. When I'm feeling in the mood for Tokyo style ramen, I head for the bowl so nice they named it twice.